Aaron Judge And Juan Soto's Yankees Shockingly Compared To 2018 Red Sox

Surely Red Sox fans will react rationally to this comparison

Oct 28, 2018; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Boston Red Sox players celebrate after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in game five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees have never liked each other.

The rivalry was renewed this past weekend, with a war of words from Saturday's game spilling all the way into Monday's talk show cycle. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, though, the Yankees won the series, which all but ended Boston's playoff hopes.

The Yankees are in an unfamiliar position as a franchise--trying to erase a 15-year title drought. Though it's been a tough last five years, this century has actually been much more kind to Boston than New York, as the Red Sox have collected four titles since 2004.

When a great Red Sox team of the past is compared to a great Yankees team, it's natural for both fan bases to be protective of their respective squads. But not all comparisons are good ones, and a 2018 Red Sox comparison from Tuesday is sure to make Red Sox fans hot under the collar.

ESPN's David Schoenfield, in an article about why this season's title contenders would or would not win the World Series, compared the 2024 Yankees' overreliance on Aaron Judge and Juan Soto to the 2018 Red Sox with Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez.

"(Judge and Soto) have created about 40.6% of the Yankees' offense... Of (past World Series) champions, the Yankees probably most resemble the 2018 Red Sox, who relied on (Mookie) Betts and J.D. Martinez for 34% of their offense," Schoenfield said.

"Judge and Soto are going to have to hit, end of story. They'll need somebody else to step up, just like the Red Sox had Steve Pearce in 2018, but I see no reason to conclude the lack of lineup depth is the reason the Yankees won't win."

It's hard to decide which point to disprove first. There's the obvious fact that the 2018 Red Sox won 108 games, while these Yankees are on pace for 94. But the real issue with this comparison is the false equivalency it draws between the two squads' supporting casts.

Compared to this season's Yankees, the 2018 Red Sox were incredibly well-balanced. This season, the Yankees' third-best qualified hitter is a tie between Austin Wells and Giancarlo Stanton, whose 113 OPS+ would have put them fifth on the 2018 Boston team. Xander Bogaerts and Andrew Benintendi had a 135 and 123 OPS+, respectively.

Meanwhile, these Yankees have four hitters with at least 300 plate appearances this season carrying an OPS+ below 90: Anthony Volpe, Alex Verdugo, Anthony Rizzo, and Oswaldo Cabrera. The 2018 Red Sox had one: Eduardo Núñez.

So sure, the Red Sox had Betts and Martinez, who were having all-time great seasons by Red Sox standards, but they also had a pretty darn good supporting cast. The Yankees have Judge, who's having one of the best offensive seasons ever, Soto, who's on the Betts/Martinez level, and a bunch of mediocrity.

All this is not to say the Yankees can't get the job done in the playoffs this season, especially without a clear-cut best team in the American League.

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